Fifth Continent Volunteering Update - December 2021

The Fifth Continent Landscape Delivery Team have been working on projects to Restore, Rediscover and Reclaim the unique landscape of the Romney Marsh.

The National Lottery Heritage Funded project, which commenced in June 2017, is a first for Kent Wildlife Trust straddling wildlife conservation on Romney Marsh, whilst embracing its heritage and celebrating its people who have shaped its past and who now support its future.

Volunteers have been vital to this project, and so many have learnt new skills and brought an amazing amount of enthusiasm ensuring success as the scheme enters its closing stages.

Over 100 heritage volunteers have been involved in digs and finds identification, conducted research and learnt surveying techniques; even taking part in an adventurous search for the original Romney Port - lost many centuries ago and still hidden!

Local landowners have also played a key role providing access to and enjoying finding out about their properties in centuries past.

Volunteer Eve Morris gave her feedback on being involved in the project:

“I became involved in the Heritage volunteering team as part of the Fifth Continent Project in June 2019 and was hooked from day 1! The volunteers were a wonderful mixture of people from a range of backgrounds, and it was a joy to be involved with every aspect; whether it be field walking, excavation, finds washing and processing, geophysical and building surveys, workshops. Each person brought a different and unique perspective to the projects we worked on. We were expertly guided and encouraged by highly trained archaeologists, Lucie and Andrew - both experts in their field. I have learnt new skills and am excited to do more community archaeology in the future“.

To capture the past Oral Histories from residents and visitors to the area were recorded – all being compiled in a new book with a CD of recorded memories. Mike Shannon (MBE) shares his memories of the project:

“I have been a part of the Oral History Team since the project started in 2018, it seems an age ago!

Since then I have been trained in:

• Interviewing techniques, not easy for someone to keep quiet during an interview.
• Operate the recording machine and ensuring no interference such as a ticking clock, cats purring or dogs barking.
• Editing recordings, removing background noise, coughs etc.

I’m rather sad that after approximately 50 interviews, at least ten for me, and having had an involvement in listening to most of them, the project has come to an end.

I enjoyed all of my interviews, meeting people from different backgrounds who live on Romney Marsh and who all think the area is a special place.

We worked well as a team led by Rib Davis and Dawn Apcar and I’m looking forward to seeing the final booklet and recordings.

I will miss being involved in the project and the good friends I have made.”

Recording ‘the now’- Volunteers have learnt significant skills in film making and editing under the guidance of Screen South. The aim of this project has been to produce at least 35 new short films about Romney Marsh and this amazing array can be viewed on www.screensouth.org/fifth-continent-2/

Ten Community Mosaics have been created in partnership with local churches and the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust (RMHCT) with volunteers from each community contributing ideas and helping make the mosaics, led by Yolanda Houston from Teach Me in New Romney. 391 people have taken part in the mosaic workshops. The project has been so successful that the RMHCT is funding mosaics for the four remaining churches on the marsh in 2022.

John Hendy, from the RMHCT, is a local expert on Romney Marsh’s famous medieval churches and has done an outstanding job narrating a new audio guide for the marsh churches on a voluntary basis. In total, over 3 hours of new audio is now available, to help guide visitors around the features, history and folklore of all 14 churches on Romney Marsh.

The Fifth Continent project supports the fantastic volunteers of the Litter Picking Watch Romney Marsh who are incredibly dedicated to keeping the footpaths, roads and countryside of the marsh litter free collecting 9,000 bags of litter last year! – a great credit to them but a damning comment on how some people trash the countryside. We have provided tools and equipment - making their job much easier and faster from simple things like gloves to ratchet loppers and muck rakes.

Clearing all this rubbish is great for wildlife which gets caught in and injured by plastic and other waste. Over to Eric Brown, founding member of the group:

"A dozen volunteers had a great productive morning in Yoakes Lane, Ivychurch, clearing years of fly tipped rubbish where the muck rakes were put through their paces. We then sawed, lopped and trimmed our way through a very overgrown impassable pathway. This would not have been possible without your fantastic donation of tools. Our volunteers will go on to maintain it like we do with other byways we’ve cleared.’ Really the thanks go from us to the dedicated volunteers of the group – what a team!"

Volunteers have been key to several Biodiversity projects, species identification and monitoring; land management; clearing of invasive species and litter picking and enhancing the ditches for improved biodiversity are just a few of the roles that would not have taken place without volunteer input.

The range of volunteering roles have been diverse and have included technology roles for filming, editing and website management; creativity opportunities from workshops and training sessions as well as heritage projects, archaeological surveys and research and biodiversity roles supporting the unique natural landscape we are so lucky to have.

With projects coming to an end, there will be opportunities to continue volunteering with Kent Wildlife Trust and with the projects’ partners including Bumblebee Conservation Trust, RSPB, Romney Marsh Countryside Partnership to name a few. If you wish to find out more about volunteering in general, or if you have specialist knowledge and skills that can bring benefit to any specific geographical areas/reserves then what are you waiting for…contact Alana, our Wilder Kent Volunteer Officer at Alana.Skilbeck@kentwildlife.org.uk